Catching Up

I've been in a bit of a blog writing funk lately. Not sure why other than my schedule hasn't allowed for a lot of extra time here. We made a trip to WA this past week for a much needed break and some good ole family and friends time. It was so great to see everyone. I was afraid that the trip was going to mess up Dayson's newly sleeping through the night schedule but he did great! He also did great on the drive both ways. Mom, the kids and I had a little bit of excitement on the trip there when the tire pressure light popped on 3 hours into the trip. Found that I had a lovely screw in the back tire. Got that fixed and then was told that it wasn't advisable to make the rest of the trip due to our front tires being in bad shape. After talking with mom, we decided that we would go ahead and finish the trip. God protected us and we made it to WA safely.

While there, we were able to visit with many wonderful friends that we haven't seen in a while. Dayson immediately started mastering the stairs (as well as falling down the stairs). Both kids had a blast being with Papa and Grammy as well as playing outside and with the dogs. With all the fun that we had and the busyness of the week, it was really hard to come back home. I'm thinking that the next time we head up, we'll need to stay for two weeks to soak up all the family time that we can get.

Since I've been in a picture taking funk as well, I tried to make up for that on this trip. Here's just some of the pictures that I took while on vacation.

Playing on the steps that he took a header off of. He of course fell face first off of the top step over the part where there was no bottom step. That put a few gray hairs on my head. Fortunately, he came through that with only a scratch on his nose and a bit of a mark on his forehead.

Loved playing outside.

New best friends. Dayson loved sharing all the rocks he found with Diesel.

Enjoying the rock pile.

Got to see my best friend Joy for the first time in over three years. It was so great to catch up and see how much the kids have grown.

Olivia

Loved having the opportunity to take some pregnancy pictures of Joy. She's having a little boy named Chase here in the next few weeks.

Claire

Audrey

Joy and I, we've been friends since after we were babies.

For some reason he likes to walk like this. Most of the time his head is straight back which of course makes him run into things since he's not watching out in front of him.

I know what this looks like, but really, he's just resting. He'd been digging up rocks and walking all over the place for a while.

Checking out Papa's toys.

Had to get a couple of flower shots in before the weather changed.

Papa and Dayson. It wasn't until the last night that we were there before Dayson finally lifted up his arms for Papa to pick him up. Hoping that the next time we see each other, it won't take him so long to warm up.

Great Papa Francisco and the kids.

Niki - She really doesn't like her picture taken so I had to sneak these.

Mama and son (Niki and Diesel)

Got to meet our newest nephew Levi. He's such a cutie!!

The cousins having a blast in the wagon.

Levi and my brother Jeff.

Got to see my cousin Melia and Olivia again.

Dayson decided that he really didn't like it when Olivia talked to him. Almost every time, he would burst out in tears.

Cooper, he's getting so big!

Iyana loved holding Olivia

Jasper was a hard one to get a picture of. He reminds me of Dayson... constant movement.

Papa and Grammy with all their grandchildren

The whole family

13 Months

Dayson, you are 13 months old! I've decided that I'm going to keep up the monthly posts for a while since you are changing so much every month.

You currently weigh 23 pounds, and are about 30.5 inches. Most of the clothing you wear is 18 months, though you can still occasionally wear 12 month. Shoe size is 5.

You still love the swings, especially if daddy is holding you. Your giggles are so cute! Other things that you really like are climbing (you've mastered climbing up on a couch and up and down the stairs), food (you never want to stop eating), playing tackle football with daddy, saying "I get" with almost everything you do, picking up rocks that are half buried in the dirt and many more things that boys love to do.

You still adore your sister. Yes, you two have your times, and I have caught you being a bit of a tattle tale lately though I don't understand a word you're saying, but you two really do love each other. I have loved watching how close you are and all your similarities and differences.

For the first time ever, you have started to sleep through the night. I don't know if something finally started to click or what, but for the past week and a half (except for last night) you have slept from the time we put you down until about 6:30 in the morning. And for once, I have also finally slept through the night. There is hope!!

My little jailbird. He crawled into the dog kennel and closed the door on himself. Had to break out the Christmas jammies. He got these shortly after he was born in the hopes that they would fit him by this December. Apparently, he decided that he needed to have a few growth spurts and therefore, these will no longer fit him in the very near future.

Dayson, you are such a delight to us. God continues to bless us in getting to watch you and your sister grow up. Your daddy and I pray that you will always seek after Christ and that He will become the center of your life. We love you little man!!

Wordless Wednesday

A New Friend and Smiles

This past weekend, we went to Art in the Park. Had a lot of fun looking at all the various booths. We came across one that had Cuddly Critter Puppets. Iyana fell in love. Still having some spending money left over, she decided to adopt Lily. Lily now goes with us everywhere. She has become Iyana's new favorite thing to play with and also torture her brother. Or maybe it's Dayson that tortures her with always grabbing at Lily and trying to take her away ...ahhhh... that's siblings for you.

Isn't Lily long?

After dealing with some weird fever bug for the past day and a half, we finally got some smiles out of Dayson. He was fine when he got up yesterday morning after sleeping 10.5 hours (a new record!), but after his afternoon nap, he woke up running a fever. I should have known after sleeping for that long that something was wrong. I was really hoping that he was finally getting this sleep thing figured out but no. There's still hope though for some day down the road I'm sure. He's feeling much better now as I write this. Don't like seeing my little ones sick, that's for sure.

Love seeing these smiles!

I'm not listening! At least, that's what it looks like he's doing. ☺

Leaning a little but this is what Dayson does when we say 'praise the Lord!' Iyana used to do the same thing at this age.

12 Months

Dayson you are 12 months old today!! Happy birthday sweet boy!! This past year you have brought us so much joy (and a few gray hairs). We love you SOOOOO much!! Here's a collage of all the monthly photos. You have grown so much!

Here's some things that you have been up to lately.

• Running, climbing and doing all things a very active boy does. You constantly get bumps and bruises, especially on your head. The day before your birthday, you tripped and fell, cutting the corner of your eye. Later that same day you went face first into a closed cabinet...and people wonder why I'm starting to get gray hair already.
• You weigh around 21 pounds now. We'll get your official measurements when you have your doctors appointment next week.
• One of your favorite things to do is eat. A typical breakfast after your morning nursing is a scrambled egg, about 2 servings of cereal with mashed fruit, a handful or two of cheerios/kix and what ever you have to drink. Oh, and I can't forget that you almost always share my toast on top of all of that. Do one year olds normally eat this much?

• We've come to find out that you love to take anything you can find and throw it into the bath tub. I'm thankful that it's not the toilet, though you do have that fascination too. As you can see, it's not just toys that make it in there. We have snacks, sometimes spoons, shoes, Iyana clothes when you find them and what ever else happens to be close at the time. If something has come up missing, that is now the first place we look.

• Took you to the park the other day and found that you really love the swings now. We had lots of giggles and squeals.

• I love your little hands. I love how you like to hold hands now when we go for walks. You're so independent most of the time, but then you'll grab on and it just melts my heart. 

• Sleep is slowly getting better. After that one night of sleeping all the way through, we've had about four other nights of at least 7.5 of sleep. It's still not every night, but I'm definitely seeing progress. And yes, my body is slowly adjusting each time. When you do sleep that long, I'm now down to only getting up once and waking up maybe two other times. It's been a blessing.

• These times when you are sitting still are few and far between. I pray that as you get older, you will take time to enjoy all of God's wonderful creation. Be still and know that He is God and He created not only this earth and all that's in it, but you!! You are so special to Him.

• You love your sister SOO much! In the morning you can't wait for her to get up. If I'm not watching, you'll barge into her room to try and wake her. Playing chase, hiding and any other game that you two make up is the highlight of your day. You always have the biggest smile on your face when you two are playing.

• It's not the traditional 1st birthday cake, but we're not really into a lot of sweets. We did carrot cake cupcakes (with very light frosting) and you loved it. Especially once you had a small taste of the frosting. I was afraid that you were going to shove the whole thing into your mouth which you are pretty famous for. All food that you eat normally has to be cut into very small pieces.

Little D, you are such a joy to us. It's hard to imagine that a year has gone by but it's also so hard to imagine what life would be like without you in it. Iyana still talks from time to time about how she still can't believe that she's finally a sister. She loves you so much little one! Have a wonderful birthday Dayson, we love you!!!

Birthday Boy

A year ago today, Dayson made his entrance into the world. Weeks before his arrival, my midwife warned me that I would need to get my running shoes ready and boy was she right. This little guy has been on the move since he was born.

Dayson, we love you so much and are so blessed to have you as our son. You are a wonderful gift from God and we are so thankful that He chose us as your family. I pray that you have a wonderful day celebrating your birthday and that you would draw ever closer to Christ as  you grow older.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAYSON!!!!